FOCA and Conscience

Traditionally, the new year is greeted with enthusiasm. But for serious Christians, pro-life Christians, this new year, 2009, is being greeted with foreboding and trepidation. The political winds in the nation have shifted and the Culture of Death seems to be in the ascendant. The secularism that has run rampant across Europe spawning the ideals of social democracy seems to have leapt across the moat of the Atlantic and taken root in the United States. Someone has managed to hoodwink America and has convinced us that our hopes can be realized through "freedom of choice". Someone has managed to sell us the idea that real change can be achieved if those of us who act with an informed conscience can be muzzled and made to conform. We are being told that we can hold nothing as non-negotiable, and that if we persist in doing so coercion via the law will be employed.

This is the reasoning behind the "Freedom of Choice Act". Rest assured that it will not end there. After this will come the "Freedom to Die Act". Then perhaps the "Freedom to Choose Unless You Already Have a Child Act", followed by the "Duty to Die Act".

What are we to do? What should our response to this seeming resurgence of the culture of death be?

First, we must heed one of the great messages of the Gospel, we must heed the advice proclaimed by Pope John Paul the Great as the first words of his pontificate. We must "be not afraid". From the time of Abraham to the Ascension of Christ, God tells us seventy three times to banish our fears. We must remember that our God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. This is the God who led His people out of Egypt; this is the God who brought His people out of Babylon; this is the God who manifested Himself as Man, who died and rose for the salvation of those He loved. The newly named Archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, has a set of ten rules for disagreeing as a Christian, the last of which is "The victory is won; my job is to run out the clock with style". We have nothing to fear.

This doesn't mean we should shrink or withdraw from public engagement on the issues of dignity and life in which we believe. On the contrary, I think it's time to engage all the more vigorously. Perhaps it's time for the Church to reconsider her traditional reluctance to name names out of fear of the IRS. In the last election, we saw many priests and bishops courageously speak out on the subject of voting our Catholic conscience. We saw many clerics correcting the dubious interpretations cast upon Catholic teaching by so-called Catholic politicians. That was a good start, but not nearly enough. I think it's high time to speak out against outrageous evil and the IRS be damned. Evil sometimes walks and talks and has a name, let's use that name. Let us leave no doubt in the mind of the world as to what this evil is. Yes, this will entail sacrifice on the part of the Church and her members. But was this not what we were promised by her founder, Jesus Christ? Do we not have His guarantee that the "gates of Hell would not prevail" against her? Let's trust in His word and do what is right.

The federal state, the reins of which have been seized by those who have betrayed the liberal ideal of the equality of all men, is about to attempt to impose a gag upon us. The new majority party in the Congress is about to introduce again legislation under the guise of freedom to choose which will tell us that our conscience is not only irrelevant, but that acting on that conscience is illegal. We must fight that attempt and if we lose the battle to prevent the enactment of that legislation, we must refuse to submit and willingly accept the consequences of that refusal.

I believe that this administration poses the greatest threat to the fight for life and the dignity of life that we have faced thus far in the modern "kulturkampf". I believe that our cause faces serious challenges. But I also believe that the outcome is guaranteed. Running out the clock with style may call for greater sacrifices than we know. Do not be afraid.

Thanks for reading my rant.

Til next time, all the best. Joe